


All I Need is a Whisper

by kingdomuponruins



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cocky Stiles Stilinski, F/M, Hate to Love, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2018-07-24 07:31:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7499493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingdomuponruins/pseuds/kingdomuponruins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why would someone transfer colleges their senior year? It's sketchy." Stiles asks Scott.<br/>"I don't know, but I like her," Scott says while walking to the jeep. "And I think you do too."<br/>Stiles looks at Scott incredulously, "Sorry Scott, I'm not into spawns of Satan," Stiles says. "Plus I have a girlfriend," Stiles adds as an afterthought. Stiles was going to figure out the mysteriously evil, redheaded goddesses's secrets no matter what the cost.</p><p>Or when Lydia transfers colleges her Senior year for reasons, and Stiles and Lydia hate each other (or do they?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This is Gospel

All I Need is a Whisper

 

Lydia pulls up to a red light and exhales apprehensively. She remembers pulling up to Harvard on her first day of freshman year full of confidence and excitement. She had a plan, she knew exactly where her life was going and she had a boyfriend. But this isn’t Harvard, or her freshman year. She doesn’t have a plan or know where she’s going, and she most certainly doesn’t have a boyfriend.

 

 _Thank God,_ she thinks.

 

Lydia’s life couldn’t be any more different than she thought it would be. But yet, here she is, at Stanford transferring in her Senior year of college.

 

_Like that doesn’t seem sketchy._

Lydia rolls her eyes and mentally gives herself a pep talk.

 

“I don’t really care who thinks it’s weird that I’m transferring in my final year. I’m not here to make friends and I’m not here to have fun. I’m here to get my degree, get into a masters program, and win a Fields medal. You’ve lost sight of it once, don’t do it again, Lydia.”

 

Lydia looks to her right and to her horror an insanely cute boy wearing a Mets cap is staring at her in his insanely beat up jeep wrangler. The car is filled with more boys, all of which are attractive as well. The boy with the Mets hat gives her a million dollar smile and motions for her to roll her windows down and she does.

 

“You know, a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be talking to herself, you could be talking to me.” The boy says cockily, with a wink, the sweet talk reminding her a bit of Jackson.

 

Jackson.

 

Lydia looks at the boy disgusted.

 

“And a boy like you, or should I say any human really, shouldn’t be driving a beat-up death trap like that, but here you are.” Lydia counters.

 

The golden-eyed boy’s mouth drops and she hears her friends chime into a collective “ _Ohhh”_

 

Just as the boy is about to retort, the light turns green and Lydia slams on her accelerator trying to avoid any more awkward interaction with this arrogant, beautiful, but arrogant asshole and his friends. She looks back in her rear-view mirror and notices the car not moving. She realizes the car must have stalled.

  

 _Karma._ Lydia smirks to herself.

 

_No boys, Lydia. Especially not ones like that._

_And no friends, she adds. Whoever it is she’s living with can do whatever they’d like, she is just going to stay in her room and do what she needs to do to get to the end of the year._

 

Lydia had found two girls who needed a third roommate in an apartment right near campus. Lydia had got into contact with them on Facebook before she had to delete her account. They both looked like nice girls, and maybe at a different time, Lydia would have given them a chance. But none of her friends at Harvard or at home gave two shits about her when she needed them the most.

 

 _You can only trust yourself_. _No friends._

As Lydia is thinking this, she sees the two girls sitting on lawn chairs outside of their apartment with a “Welcome Lydia” sign in the front lawn. She tries hard not to, but gives into her smile. Even though she doesn’t want to let herself like these girls, it does feel nice to feel welcomed for once.

 

Lydia waves politely to the girls and they follow her car as she parks. Lydia gets out of her car and is immediately enveloped into a hug, which catches her off guard.

 

“Hi! It’s so nice to meet you, I’m Kira.” The extremely pretty Asian girl lets go of Lydia and smiles at Lydia.

 

“Sorry about her, Kira we talked about this.” The other girl, Allison she presumes, comes into view. She looks at Kira with playful disapproval and holds out her hand for Lydia to shake.

 

“I’m Allison Argent.”

 

Lydia takes the beautiful brunette’s hand.

 

“Lydia, it’s nice to meet you guys.”

 

Kira is positively beaming, but no one is talking, and in truth it’s pretty awkward. These two girls, who have probably known each other for the past three years, if not more, are going to live with a completely random girl who they know nothing about.

 

 _And will continue to know nothing about._ Lydia reminds herself.

 

Allison finally breaks the tension,

 

“So, we wanted to help you with your things!”

“You really don’t have to,” Lydia says obligatorily. Truthfully, Lydia had no idea how she was going to move all of her stuff into the apartment, especially since they were on the sixth floor. She always had Jackson to help her with her things. Her stomach does a familiar turn when she thinks of him again.

 

“Oh my goodness, there is no way we were gonna let you do this alone! In fact, our guy friends are on their way over now to help too,” Kira says happily.

 

Lydia’s stomach drops. She’s still a bit apprehensive about being around guys, a fact that really annoys her, but she can’t help it.

 

“Oh no! I’d hate to be a nuisance. Please tell them they don’t have to come,” Lydia pleads.

 

“Don’t you worry, you’re not being a problem at all! Believe me, they would just be at home playing video games not doing anything productive at all. We need every excuse to get them out of that damn house,” Allson says warmly to Lydia.

 

“Plus, I’m all about girl-power, but some man strength would be nice with moving this stuff,” Kira says enthusiastically. “I just don’t know where they are, they said they were on their way a little bit ago, they should be here.” Kira adds.

 

“Well let’s get a head start,” Allison says as she begins to grab things from Lydia’s car.

 

Lydia and Kira start grabbing things as well.

 

When they get into the apartment, Kira and Allsion do a quick tour. The place is okay, but there is a huge window in the living room overlooking Stanford’s campus. Lydia takes a moment to look out and take it all in. Before she turns around and goes with the other two girls into her room, which is actually quite big.

 

“You lucked out, this is the biggest room in the apartment.”

 

Lydia looks at Allison questioningly.

 

“Why didn’t one of you guys take it? I don’t mind a smaller room.”

 

Allison shakes her head.

 

“It’s really no big deal, Kira and I have been living here over a year now, we love our rooms.”

 

Lydia nods appreciatively and goes with the two girls to get more of her stuff.

 

Kira and Allison start asking Lydia the normal get-to-know questions like, “Where are you from?” And “What are your favorite hobbies?” Lydia answers everything as short as possible, hoping the two brunettes will catch a hint. They don’t, or maybe they do and just won’t let up.

 

On their third trip on the elevator, Kira calls someone on her phone.

 

“Hey Scott, where the hell are guys? You’re so late and we can only dance around the heavy artillery for so long before we’ll have to actually do it ourselves, which we could do because we’re strong, independent women who don’t need boys to do anything for them, but would just really like boys to do some things for them because…

 

Allison nudges Kira,

“… oh okay sorry, I’m rambling! Just get your asses over here ASAP, goodbye.” Kira shuts off her phone and the elevator door opens.

 

“Sorry about that, the guys are always late, literally always.” Kira says clearly annoyed.

 

“Well, I bet they weren’t jumping out of their seats with the prospect of moving someone in,” Lydia says, surprising herself by getting involved with conversation.

 

“Oh you are so wrong! The boys were so stoked when we told them they were helping us move you in,” Kira says.

 

“Yeah because you told them, and I quote, ‘So a really hot girl is moving into our house on Saturday, wanna help move her in?’” Allison replies.

 

“To be fair, Scott would have helped regardless because he’s a good person,” Kira replies.

 

“That is very true, even though you’re biased because he’s your boyfriend.”

 

“And you’re biased because he WAS your boyfriend.” Kira says. Lydia’s eyes widen as she turns to look at Allison’s reaction, but she just laughs at Kira. Allison turns to Lydia.

 

“So here’s the lowdown, I dated Scott for four years. We met our sophomore year of high school and then broke up our sophomore year of college.”

 

“But they're still friends!” Kira adds. Allison nods.

 

“Great friends.”

 

“And then I started dating him last year because Malia of course…”

 

“Let’s not talk about Malia, we don’t want to scare her.” Allison says.

 

Lydia doesn’t know who this Malia girl is, but her roommates didn’t seem to be too fond of her.

 

“Anyways, so there’s Derek, who is a grad student. He doesn’t really talk much or involve himself with anything, but he lives with the boys just down the road. He always has a sourpuss look on his face, but I swear he doesn’t hate you. He’s actually quite nice if you get to know him.”

 

“Then there’s Isaac, he’s an exchange student from England. Beware, he will flirt with you until the end of time,” Allison warns.

 

“Especially you because you’re beautiful.” Kira says, Lydia can’t help but smile at the girl.

 

“But Isaac is actually a really good guy, a bit secretive for my liking, but a good guy,” Allison says fondly.

 

“And then there’s Stiles.”

 

“What the hell is a Stiles?” Lydia asks despite herself.

 

Allison and Kira roar with laughter.

 

“Oh that’s great, I’m gonna have to tell him that one,” Kira says.

 

“Stiles…well Stiles, I’ve known him for a really long time and I love him, don’t get me wrong. But he’s kind of…

 

“An ass.” Kira says.

 

“An ass, yes.” Allison agrees.

 

“But I swear, if he lets you in, you will see just how amazing he is.”

 

“I just wish I knew what the hell he was thinking dating Malia…”

 

Allison and Kira go off talking about their friends and Lydia sits back and smiles.

 

So maybe she didn’t really want to befriend her roommates, but I guess it wouldn’t be a bad thing in the grand scheme of things. Maybe Stanford wouldn’t be that bad.

 

“We’re here!” there’s a yell from outside the door, which is unceremoniously busted into. In walks four boys. It takes Lydia a moment to register it, but her jaw drops when she notices the Mets cap on the one boy.

 

“Sorry we’re late, had some car trouble, but we’re here now and we’re ready to…Oh, hello pretty girl.” The boy with the Mets hat says once he notices Lydia sitting there.

 

Lydia was wrong, Stanford was going to be terrible.


	2. Giants Played in the Woods Like These

“Let me guess, this one’s Stiles.” Lydia says glaring at the clearly cocky boy. Stiles smiles at her mockingly.

 

Allison and Kira look between Lydia and Stiles confused.

 

“Whait what?” Kira asks.

 

“Oh shit, you’re the feisty girl in the car!” The boy with two black-banded tattoos circling his bicep exclaims. The boys around them begin to laugh in realization, while Stiles glares at her with his arms crossed.

 

Lydia smiles at the tanned boy.

 

“I prefer Lydia, but ‘the fiesty girl in the car’ has a nice ring to it too.” Lydia replies cheekily.

 

The boy smiles and reaches out his hand.

 

“I’m Scott.”

 

Lydia shakes his hand as she turns to Kira and Allison with a kinked eyebrow, remembering their scandalous history with the boy. Both of them blush and roll their eyes.

 

“And I am Isaac, it’s truly a pleasure to be in the presence of such a beauty.” The boy with curly hair grabs her hand and kisses it.

 

“We told you.” Allison quips. Isaac swings his head toward Allison and glares, mentally berating her for doing anything to ruin his chances.

 

If only Isaac knew how terrifying it was for Lydia to even have a simple, intimate action like a kiss on her hand from a boy happen. 

 

Lydia then turns to the insanely manly, blue-eyed boy leaning against the counter. He looks at her and waves non-committedly.

 

“I’m Derek.”

 

Lydia waves back with equal enthusiasm, or lack thereof really.

 

Kira claps her two hands together excitedly.

 

“Alright! Well now that we’re all on a first name basis, boys, could you please help us bring up the heavy artillery?” Kira asks with the sweetest puppy dog eyes Lydia has ever seen. All of the boys nod their heads except for one.

 

“Oh I’m not helping her.” Stiles states stubbornly.

 

“Stiles!” Kira yells angrily.

 

Scott shakes his head looking annoyed, Isaac looks impassive, like he is used to this kind of thing happening, Allison is trying to murder Stiles with her eyes and Derek, well Derek seems to be enjoying the whole encounter.

 

“Stiles, what the fuck man? Don’t be an ass,” Scott tries to reason with Stiles. As a verbal altercation breaks out throughout the friend group, Lydia interrupts.

 

“Guys! It’s really no big deal.”

 

Lydia tries to calm the group down.

 

“You see? Lydia doesn’t care if I help or not.” Stiles states rudely.

 

“Really I don’t. It doesn’t look like Stiles would be of much help anyways.” Lydia retorts looking him up and down.

 

Stiles’s mouth drops.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Kira, Scott and Allison are trying to keep from laughing, while Isaac guffaws on the spot.

 

“I like you.” Derek smiles at her and begins to walk out the door to grab her stuff.

 

Scott pats Stiles’s back twice.

 

“Let’s grab your stuff!” Scott says and the rest of the crew files out. Lydia follows while smiling devilishly at Stiles. He looks at her none too pleased. Stiles opens his mouth to say something, but Lydia slams the door shut before he gets the chance.

 

“I’m really sorry about him, Lydia, I swear Stiles is one of the best guys I know.” Scott begins trying to deflate the situation in the elevator ride down.

 

“He’s just really sensitive about his car,” Scott explains.

 

Lydia starts to laugh but stops when she realizes Scott is being dead serious.

 

“Well I’m just really sensitive to douchebags, so I don’t think we’ll mesh well.” Lydia resolves.

 

The boys are able to bring the heavy boxes and unassembled desk up and into the apartment in one trip. Lydia, who didn’t even want them to come in the first place, finds herself relieved for their help.

 

Derek plops a box down and wipes a bit of sweat off of his forehead.

 

“What could you possibly have in this box that weighs that much?” Derek asks exasperatedly.

 

“Her makeup, obviously.” Stiles, who is sitting leisurely on the couch, remarks arrogantly while staring at the dirt in his nails.

 

_What a little fuck._

Lydia glares at Stiles. Scott hits Stiles’s leg off of the couch a bit more forcefully than needed as he plops down next to his friend.

 

“Actually they're my books.” Lydia announces.

 

“Oh sure.” Stiles says sarcastically.

 

“Stiles, shut the fuck up.” Allison is just about fuming at this point.

 

“What? Look at her, it’s not like she’s gonna win the Nobel prize in mathematics or anything."

 

“Fields medal.” Lydia corrects quietly.

 

“What?” Stiles asks.

 

“Nobel doesn’t have a prize for mathematics. So the award you think I wont be winning is a Fields Medal.” Lydia answers as a matter of factly.

 

The room remains silent. Kira smiles at Lydia. Stiles is looking at Lydia like he’s trying to figure her out.

 

_Fat chance._

His mouth curls in and he smirks to himself, almost as if he is accepting a silent challenge. Lydia doesn’t like it at all.

 

“Well Lydia, we’re throwing a big back to school, slash it’s our senior year, slash any excuse to get wasted party at our house tonight. It’s just down the block, you have to come,” Isaac says to Lydia in his cute British accent.

 

Lydia’s stomach does a nervous flip. She hasn’t been to a party in a year. Jackson never let her go out, and if he did, she would just stand obediently by his side the entire night.

 

There was a time when the words ‘Lydia Martin’ and ‘party’ were practically synonyms, but Lydia hadn’t planned on going out with friends and partying here. In fact, she had planned just the opposite.

_No boys and no friends._

 

But there was something so welcoming about the looks Allison and Kira were giving her that she surprised herself by accepting the offer. Everyone seemed pretty stoked too, except for Stiles, of course, a fact that made her regret her decision even less.

 

Stiles’s phone rang. He looked at the phone, got up and muttered the name ‘Malia’ offhandedly to the group. Allison rolled her eyes as Stiles stepped out.

 

“You’ll meet Malia tonight if Stiles and her aren’t fighting.” Kira informs Lydia.

 

“She’s kind of like Stiles, but actually a bitch.” Allison says bluntly.

 

“She’s not that bad.” Scott says, but it doesn’t sound very convincing.

 

Kira gives Scott a peck on the lips and tells him how nice he is.

 

Lydia, for a moment, is content. Yeah she’s in a new place with completely new people. But she’s spent her whole life never straying from the path set out for her.

 

_It’s time to move forward._

Just as Lydia thinks this, her phone buzzes. Her stomach drops when she reads the text from an unknown number:

 

‘I will find you.’

 

And just like that, Lydia feels herself reverting to the past.


	3. Cleopatra

After excusing herself from the living room and locking herself in her new room, Lydia immediately calls her telephone company and changes her number for the third time in three months.

 

Sitting on her unmade bed, Lydia feels the beginnings of a panic attack coming on. Her throat feels like it’s closing up and she harshly grabs her throat on impulse.

 

 _Breathe in, breathe out_.

 

A knock on her door startles her and progresses her attack even more.

 

“Lydia?” Kira’s unmistakably sweet voice rings from the outside of her door.

 

Lydia manages to squeak out a ‘yes?’ despite her inability to breathe.

 

“I was gonna go to grab some things with the guys for the party tonight, do you want to come with us? If not, Allison is staying here, she doesn’t feel like going.”  


Silence follows and Kira grows worried.

 

“Lydia? Lydia, are you alright in there?”

 

Lydia finally gets her breathing labored as she whips open her door with a fake smile plastered on her face.

 

“I think I’m gonna hang back, I’m kind of a perfectionist if you haven’t noticed and I want to unpack and set my room up.”

 

Kira flashes Lydia an understanding smile.

 

“That’s alright Lydia, I’m a bit like that too!”

 

Lydia walks out of her room and follows Kira to the living room where everyone is gathered. She figures it’d be really awkward if they came to help her and she didn’t even say goodbye.

 

Isaac jumps up from his seat when she enters the room. He slips his arm over her shoulder. Lydia puts in a huge effort to not visibly stiffen at the sentiment.

 

“You’re coming with us, right Lydia?” Isaac asks smoothly.

 

“Lydia’s gonna hang back to unpack her room!” Kira answers for her.

 

“I can help you.” Allison suggests, looking at her expectantly.

 

Lydia merely nods at the girl, unable to say no to the brunette.

 

“But you are coming tonight, right?” Scott asks her.

 

“You have to come tonight.” Isaac urges.

 

“No, you really don’t.” Stiles cuts in rudely when he re-enters the apartment.

 

“Stiles, I swear to God…” Allison begins.

 

“I’ll be there.” Lydia says confidently sending Stiles a challenging glare.

 

“Who says I’m allowing you in my house?” Stiles returns the volley.

 

“I do” Derek, Scott and Isaac all respond in unison, Scott giving her a sincere smile.

 

Lydia raises her eyebrow at Stiles and smirks.

 

“Looks like you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”

 

In truth, Lydia didn’t even want to go to the party after Jackson’s threatening text. But Stiles wanting her not to go just made her NEED to go. As the boys and Kira filter out of the apartment, Stiles and Lydia share a long stare until he closes the door behind him.

 

_Game on._

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“Good luck living with that one.” Stiles says to Kira.

 

“I don’t need any luck, I think she’s great.”

 

“I think she’s a bitch.” Stiles retorts.

 

“She is so fit AND she hates Stiles, what more could I want in a girl?” Isaac adds to the conversation.

 

Stiles glares at Isaac.

 

Lydia is indeed a real smoke show, but that was only because she came from hell. Stiles finds the girl to be arrogant. He was just trying to pay the girl a compliment and she thanks him by insulting his baby? Stiles can tell she’s holding back with the group and he sees right through her. He can only hope his friends can see right through her too.

 

“Scott?” Stiles looks at his best friend hopefully.

 

Scott doesn’t look his friend in the eye. Stiles throws up his hands.

 

“Come on, Scott!”

 

The group exits the apartment complex and head for Stiles’s jeep and Kira’s red Toyota.

 

"Why would someone transfer colleges their senior year? It's sketchy." Stiles asks Scott.

 

 

"I don't know, but I like her," Scott says while walking to the jeep. "And I think you do too."

 

 

Stiles looks at Scott incredulously

 

"Sorry Scott, I'm not into spawns of Satan," Stiles says. "Plus I have a girlfriend," Stiles adds as an afterthought.

 

Stiles was going to figure out the mysteriously evil, redheaded goddesses’ secrets no matter what the cost.

 

 

After getting red cups and alcohol on their run, the gang heads back to the house to get ready for the party. Stiles parks his car outside in the driveway and hops out of his car. He yelps when he is grabbed from behind.

 

“What the hell?’

 

He turns around to see his girlfriend, Malia smirking behind him. He laughs and pulls her in for a kiss.

 

“Malia, you scared me.”

 

Malia grabs Stiles by the shirt and pulls him close. She raises her lips to his ear.

 

“Why don’t we have a quickie before the party?”

 

Stiles, ready to oblige, gets ripped from Malia with brute force. Turning around to tell Scott to fuck off, he’s surprised to see Kira as the culprit.

 

“Stiles needs to help set up, Malia.” Kira tells her disinterested.

 

“Well hello to you too, Kira.” Malia says with arrogance in her tone.

 

Kira sends her a fake smile. Kira throws a bunch of plastic bags into Stiles’s chest, turns around and walks into the house. Stiles turns to Malia and sends her a wink.

 

“After the party?” he suggests

 

“During.” Malia counters as she grabs his ass. Stiles smiles and they make their way into the house.

 

“Kira, do you know what Lydia’s favorite color is? I’m trying to pick out a shirt.” Isaac asks.

 

“I’ve only known her for like two hours, I don’t know Isaac.”

 

“Who’s Lydia?” Malia inquires.

 

“Some bitch who’s living with Kira and Allison.” Stiles answers.

 

“Oh? So you finally found someone to take my room?” Malia asks mockingly.

 

Stiles rolls his eyes at the encounter. He hates that his girlfriend and good friend don’t get along. What he hates even more is that his entire friend group hates Malia too, most of them are just too diplomatic to say anything. But Stiles can tell from the disapproving glares Scott sends. Isaac has always hated Malia. They went to high school together when Isaac transferred in from Britain junior year and Isaac often refers to her high school self as positively “feral.” Derek, who also went to school with Isaac but a year ahead, doesn’t really have an opinion no matter how many times Stiles tries to get it out of him. “But she’s your cousin!” Stiles would say, hoping for something. But Derek would just growl at him and walk away.

 

“Ladies, play nice.” Stiles warns.

 

Everyone spends some time getting ready. Malia brought a bag with a dress that was incredibly short to change into. She goes to the bathroom to do her makeup. Kira donned shorts with fishnets and a band t-shirt. She wasn’t changing, but she did add some mascara and eyeliner to her eyes.

 

People started to flood in. Stiles begrudgingly shaking hands with Theo, the annoying frat boy from across the street. The party is beginning to really get fun, everyone dancing and drinking and just enjoying the beginning of their final year of college. Stiles was enjoying himself too. He was grinding with Malia, laughing with Scott, losing to Derek and Isaac in beer pong. He almost forgot that Lydia was inevitably coming to the party with Allison. That is until, they walked through the door.

 

Stiles jaw dropped when he saw her. She was wearing a short, purple dress that made her emerald green eyes pop. Her makeup was light, almost as if she wasn’t even trying. To make matters worse, Lydia was lifted with five-inch heels (if he had to guess) that made her long, milky legs, look unending. Stiles feels his jeans bulge uncomfortably. Isaac follows his gaze and smiles appreciatively.

 

“Damn. She’s really something.”

 

“Up to something you mean.”

 

Stiles downs the rest of his beer, turns his head and returns his attention to Malia. He silently vows to himself to not let Lydia get to him tonight, but he has a bad feeling that probably wont be the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! comment and kudos xoxo


	4. I See Fire

A rush of anxiety hits Lydia right when she walks into the party, but she doesn’t let it show. She keeps her head held high and her face confident. Allison suddenly grabs Lydia’s hand reassuringly and Lydia looks at her confused. Allison smiles at her.

 

“I know you’re good at hiding it, but I can tell ya know?”

 

Lydia’s eyes widen at Allison and her heart skips a beat.

 

_How can she know?_

 

“You can tell?”

 

Lydia is almost baffled.

 

“You know I moved all the time as a kid. I used to try so hard to fit in, but whenever I felt like I was finally making some progress, my family would move again. “

 

Lydia breathes a sigh of relief.

 

_She thinks I’m on edge about fitting in._

Allison continues her pep talk and Lydia, now playing into it, listens intently.

 

“So I kind of just stopped trying alltogether. I transferred into Beacon Hills High my sophomore year and was as closed off as ever. But then I asked the boy infront of me for a pen, and as it turned out, he ended up giving me so much more.”

 

“Scott?” Lydia surmises.

 

“Yeah.” Allsion smiles fondly at the memory.

 

“I put up a good fight there obviously, but in the end Scott broke down my walls. He introduced me to Stiles and we kind of became the three amigos.”

 

Allison looks over at the two boys who are now losing horribly at beer pong against two people Lydia didn’t know.

 

“And then you two broke up?”

 

“Yeah.” Allison looks down at the floor, the topic obviously still more sore than her friends might realize.

 

“And it was pretty messy there for a little while, but I don’t regret it at all. You want to know the biggest thing that Scott made me realize? How many amazing people like him I had missed the opportunity to know simply because I was afraid. “

 

This time Lydia looks at the floor. She makes up her mind in that instant. She wasn’t going to let her fear keep her from knowing amazing people like Allison and her friends. She was going to try, really try to make the best out of her situation. Was she going to reveal her deepest, darkest secret to them? No. Because she was moving forward. Her past doesn’t define her.

 

She looks up at Allison, who is looking at her expectantly. Lydia opens her mouth and is about to tell Allison that she wants to fit in with her, but is interrupted by a drink shoved in her face. She looks up to see Isaac smiling at her sweetly.

 

“Lydia, love I’m so happy you’re here. I got you a drink.”

 

Lydia smiles at Isaac’s cuteness and squeezes Allison’s hand reassuringly, a silent acknowledgement of Allison’s words to her. Allison smiles back and then turns her attention to Isaac.

 

“Hi Isaac, where’s my drink?”

 

“Sorry love, I’ve only got two hands.”

 

Isaac raises his own drink to his lips. Allison grabs it from his hands and gulps the whole thing down quickly.

 

“Well, it looks like those two hands are free now, go get us another.”

 

Isaac sends Allison a playful glare and then excuses himself to, indeed, grab another drink for the two. Lydia notes the way Allison’s eyes linger on the Brit as he disappears from the crowd. Lydia takes a sip of her own drink, face scrunching up at how strong it was.

 

Allison laughs.

 

“Yeah, I was playing it cool, but that drink is awful.”

 

Lydia laughs and allows Allison to pull her through the crowds of people towards Scott, Stiles, and who Lydia assumes, is Stiles’s girlfriend considering they were sucking face. Lydia notes that the girl is beautiful with her short brunette hair. Stiles and Malia break apart and he makes eye contact with Lydia. With a glare, Stiles grabs Malia’s hand and pulls them both in the opposite direction of her. Lydia rolls her eyes and approaches Scott, who hugs her on the spot.

 

“Lydia, Allison, wanna play me and Stiles in beer pong?” Scott turns to where Stiles was moments ago and realizes his absence.

 

“Why don’t you and Lydia partner up and I’ll partner up with…Isaac!” Allison waves to the boy who was searching the crowd for Lydia and her. He nods his head towards Allison and makes his way over.

 

“Isaac, you and I are gonna play Lydia and Scott in beer pong.” Isaac opens his mouth to protest, probably wanting to switch teams to be with Lydia, but Allison turns her head before he has the chance to object.

 

“Well Lydia, you can’t be any worse than Stiles. We notoriously lose every game” Scott tells her.

 

Scott and Isaac face off for the first throw. Isaac gets the pong ball in and he and Allison collectively miss both of their shots.

 

Scott shoots and misses.

 

“Well, Lydia, let’s see what you’ve got.” Isaac says, clearly flirting.

 

Lydia lines up her shot and the ball lands perfectly into the first cup in the pyramid. Lydia smirks as Allison, Scott and Isaac all look at her impressed.

 

Lydia felt her old, fun self coming out and she’s going to roll with it.

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles is positively fuming by 1 am. He has been watching Lydia from a distance all night and he has just about had it. First, she partners up with HIS best friend in beer pong and manages to win four games in a row against numerous different people. Then, she annoyingly helps Scott and Isaac clean up vomit in their bathroom from some overly drunk girl. And now, Lydia is dancing with Kira, Allison, Isaac and Scott and even manages to drag Derek of all people, onto the dancefloor for a short while.

 

“Stiles, let’s goooo to bed.”

 

Malia has been trying to drag Stiles into his bedroom all night, but Stiles has needed to keep tabs on his enemy, so she’s just going to have to wait.

 

“Malia, you can go to bed whenever you want, but I’m having fun.”

 

Malia looks at him annoyed.

 

“We haven’t been doing anything all night! You’ve been in your own world and I’d rather you be in me.” Malia drags her hand down his arm seductively, but Stiles is too focused.

 

“Not right now, Malia.”

 

Malia throws her hands up.

 

“Well then, there seems to be no purpose for me being here. I’m going.”

 

Malia looks at Stiles expectantly, him totally not registering that she wants him to tell her to stay. He doesn’t say a word, just looks over distractedly at Lydia.

 

Malia huffs and then turns around, grabbing a friend and leaving the party. Stiles continues watching Lydia, oblivious.

 

Stiles watches as Lydia brings her drink to her lips, but he notices one thing she’s been doing all night, not actually drinking.

 

“That’s weird.”

 

Stiles says to himself.

 

“What’s weird?”

 

Stiles turns and sees Theo looking at him.

 

“Nothing, Theo. I didn’t know you were still here.”

 

Stiles doesn’t like Theo and never has. Ever since freshman year on the lacross team, Stiles has found Theo to be cocky and all around a total fuck boy. But Theo is Malia’s friend and so Stiles has made an effort to be cordial.

 

“Well I was actually looking for Malia and I saw her storm out, is everything okay?”

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Im just a bit distracted tonight is all.”

 

“By Lydia?”

 

Stiles looks at Theo surprised.

 

“I think every guy at this party has been distracted by her, she’s a total slam piece.”

 

Stiles flinches at Theo’s chauvinistic remark.

 

“That’s not why she’s distracting me. Not that she isn’t beautiful or anything, that’s not what I’m saying ,because she is, and that’s like not weird for me to say by the way cause I’m taken, like eventhough I’m dating someone doesn’t mean that I’m blind ya know?…”

 

Stiles shuts himself up realizing his rambling and Theo’s judgement.

 

“What I’m saying is, that I just feel like something’s off about her.”

 

“And what I’m saying is that I want to take something off of her.” Theo says as he makes a beeline for her. She’s standing with his friends at the kitchen table, mixing together a new batch of jungle juice.

 

Stiles, feeling compelled to follow, chugs the rest of his beer and makes his way over to his friends with Theo. Once they reach the group, Scott pats Stiles on his back, clearly pretty intoxicated.

 

“Stiles! Where have you been all night?!”

 

“I’ve been with Malia.”

 

“Ew.” Kira says.

 

Stiles glares playfully at his friend.

 

“Where is Malia? I wanted to meet her.” Lydia smiles at Stiles. To everyone else, her smile seemed innocent, but Stiles knew she was patronizing him. Stiles opens his mouth to set her straight, but Theo cuts him off.

 

“Oh she’s mad at him.” Theo says off-handedly

 

“I don’t believe we’ve met, I’m Theo.” He extends his hand to Lydia and she takes it with a smile.

 

“Lydia, nice to meet you.”

 

Theo and her begin talking and Stiles, for once, internally thanks Theo for distracting her enough so that Stiles wont have to deal with her.

 

_Have fun with him Lydia._

Stiles laughs to himself. Stiles begins to talk with to his friends while Theo flirts with Lydia, much to Isaac’s dismay. Stiles annoyingly notices his friends glancing at Lydia and Theo every once and a while to make sure she’s okay. Stiles, for one, could not care less.

 

Stiles, finally having a good time tonight, starts having an animated conversation with Scott about how Star Wars is so not nerdy.

 

“Mastering a lightsaber like that takes so much physicality and…WHAT THE FUCK?!”

 

Stiles is shocked when he is all of a sudden doused with liquid. He looks down at himself, drenched and slowly turns around to reveal the culprit. All he sees is red.

 

Lydia is looking at Stiles with her eyes wide and hand over her mouth, while Theo is off to the side looking dejected.

 

“Stiles! I am so sorry!”

 

“Lydia, oh my gosh, are you okay?” Kira rushes to Lydia’s side.

 

“I’m covered in jungle juice and you’re asking Lydia if she’s okay?!”

 

“She fell into the table!” Kira yells back.

 

“Stiles, are you okay?” Lydia asks, acting like she actually cares. Isaac is laughing at Stiles’s misfortune.

 

“You did it on purpose!” Stiles yells.

 

Scott looks at him incredulously.

 

“Stiles! She's drunk and it was an accident.” Scott tells Stiles.

 

The reaction of his friends makes him even more angry. How could they not see right through her? Plus, Lydia had been barely drinking all night, a fact only Stiles knows because of his perceptiveness.

 

“Well, I expect money for the alcohol you just wasted AND my clothes. This stain is never coming out.” Stiles yells at her angrily.

 

“I’ll give you money for the alcohol! Just tell me how much it is, it’s no problem. And you can give me your clothes, I’m like a laundry connoisseur, I can get a stain out of anything.” Lydia exclaims nervously. 

 

“No, Lydia’s not giving us money or washing your clothes. Stiles, stop being so dramatic.”

 

He looks at his friends disbelievingly.

 

“I thought you guys were MY friends.”

 

He turns around and makes his way toward his room, ignoring his friend’s protests in the background. He slams his door shut and vicouusly pulls his clothes off of himself. He immediately heads to the shower to not only get the sticky drink off of him, but cool off. As the water slides over his body, Stiles silently vows to expose Lydia Martin to his friends no matter what the cost.

 

_I just might need a new tactic._

 

Stiles begins to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite long, so props to you for getting to the end :) Please comment and Kudos if you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Push Blue

At around 2:30 am, the party slowly dwindles in numbers, but is still relatively rowdy. Lydia, Kira and Allison are all squished into one of the boys bathrooms. Kira is currently trying to drunkenly pee while squatting.

 

“Fuck it.” Kira gives up and sits down. Lydia smiles at her.

 

Allison is going off about Stiles, clearly fed up by his actions.

 

“…Stiles really is a good guy, he’s just not very trusting. He has been totally out of line with you. I swear, Malia is rubbing off on him.”

 

“It’s true, that girl is toxic.” Kira adds.

 

“Don’t even worry about it, really. I actually kind of feel bad to be honest, I did spill a whole thing of jungle juice on him.”

 

“No, you don’t have to make excuses for him, Lydia. He’s really being an ass.” Allison says.

 

Lydia is a bit taken a back by the comment.

 

In that moment, Lydia realized her deeply ingrained flaw of making excuses for guys when they’re being shitty. And she hates it. She was always finding a reason to rationalize Jackson’s behavior. It’s about time she starts holding people accountable for their actions.

 

“You’re right Allison, he is being an ass and he shouldn’t have treated me that way.”

 

Allison raises her hand and Lydia claps it enthusiastically. Kira gets up from the toilet and goes for a high five as well. Lydia dodges her hand at the last second. Kira looks shocked.

 

“Wash your hands first, girl.” Lydia chastises.

 

Kira laughs and does as she’s told.

 

“He would have maybe been more understanding if he knew what happened.” Kira explains.

 

“Didn’t you just fall?” Allison questions.

 

Kira stumbles a bit after washing her hands and begins to giggle. “Yeah she fell, but it was because Theo tried to kiss her!”

 

Allison covers her mouth dramatically, “What?!”

 

Lydia’s eyes widen. In truth, she was hoping no one had seen that part.

 

“Yeah, it was hilarious. He leaned in and Lydia freaked, so she moved out of the way to dodge, but ended up tripping and falling right into the table!” Kira explains.

 

Lydia looks away and nervously plays with her hair. In truth, Lydia is upset with herself. When Theo leaned in to kiss her, she felt repulsed and uncomfortable. The fact that something as simple as a kiss was still something that disgusted her makes Lydia feels like she hasn’t made as much progress as she’d hoped.

 

_I just want to be a normal college girl who drunkenly makes out with guys at parties and gives no fucks about it._

 

“Don’t be embarrassed Lydia, I’d rather fall into a table than kiss Theo too.” Allison says, clearly sensing Lydia’s discomfort. “Let’s go back to the party.”

 

“Umm, let’s not.” Kira says as she falls to her knees at the toilet and begins throwing up. Lydia rushes to grab her hair, while Allison rubs her back.

 

Allison looks at Lydia, “Let’s grab Scott and head back to the apartment.”

 

Lydia nods in agreement.

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia jolts awake disorientated. It registers to her that someone is incessantly knocking on her door. She groans and digs for her phone behind her pillow. The clock reads 9:00 am.

 

Lydia sighs and begrudgingly hops out of bed. She swings her door open, expecting Kira or Allison to be behind it. Her eyes widen in shock when she’s met with whisky brown-eyes.

 

Lydia tries to remain calm as she is acutely aware of what she is wearing. Her long Harvard sweatshirt falls from her left shoulder and is just big enough to cover her ass and the apex of her thighs. Her hair is a tangled mess as it drops over her shoulders, spewing out in separate directions, and her face remains makeup free.

 

Lydia is surprised when Stiles blatantly looks her up and down. She clears her throat awkwardly, snapping Stiles out of whatever thoughts he was having about her in that moment. He gives her a shit-eating grin that makes Lydia’s knees go weak. She tried to hide his effect on her, but her cheeks are noticeably burning up.

 

_Fucking fair skin._

 

“Good morning pretty girl.” Stiles says cheekily.

 

“Stiles.” Lydia says, voice still hoarse from just waking up.

 

Stiles extends his hand, offering her the to-go cup of hot coffee in it.

 

“I brought you some coffee as a peace offering.”

 

Lydia narrows her eyes and wearily reaches for the coffee. As she grabs it from his hand, their fingers brush ever so slightly. Lydia’s body tenses as she gets the unfamiliar feeling of electricity sparking through her body. Lydia looks Stiles in the eye to see if he felt anything too, but he remains impassive.

 

“So, which one of them forced you to do this?” Lydia interrogates.

 

“None of them.” Stiles says unconvincingly.

 

“Well, are you gonna say you’re sorry?” Lydia asks while she brings the coffee up slowly and sips it with a kinked eyebrow.

 

Stiles looks at her annoyed. “No, I’m not. You do know you spilled an entire thing of jungle juice on me, right?”

 

“You do know I was drunk and it was an accident, right?” Lydia counters.

 

“Well you see that’s where the issue comes in because I didn’t see you take a real sip of your drink all night.” Stiles accuses. “I know that sounds really creepy…”

 

“Yes it does.”

 

“…but I watched you all night and you never drank a single thing, which leaves me to believe that it wasn’t an accident.”

 

“It was an accident, Stiles!”

 

Stiles looks at Lydia doubtfully and takes a few more steps closer to her so he can look her right in the face.

 

“I don’t believe you.” Lydia takes in their close proximity. Stiles licks his lips and Lydia is baffled by her almost uncontrollable urge to kiss him right then and there. And maybe she would have if he didn’t have a girlfriend.

 

 _And wasn’t such a fuck_.

 

“You know what? Get out of my room. I don’t have to explain myself to you. You can go tell Scott or whoever put you up to this that I still think you’re the scum of the earth.”

 

“But you took the peace offering!” Stiles gestures wildly to the coffee in Lydia’s hand as she pushes him out of her room.

 

“Yes. Now peace, asshole!” Lydia says as she slams the door shut in Stiles’s face.

 

She puts her back against the door and slowly lowers herself to the ground trying to ignore the fact that just hours ago, she was repulsed by the idea of even kissing a guy, and today she had to restrain herself from jumping Stiles, of all people's, bones.

 

_He’s such a dick._

She takes another sip of her coffee and closes her eyes in satisfaction.

 

_At least he has good taste in coffee._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kinda shitty, but i really wanted to get a new chapter up. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Feel free to comment (criticisms/suggestions are welcomed) and kudos xoxoxo


	6. Do I Wanna Know?

“Yes. Now peace asshole!”

 

Stiles’s jaw drops as Lydia unceremoniously slams the door in his face. He is left there in slight shock and arousal? He looks around for anyone and pats the front of his jeans awkwardly.

 

_Stiles, you sick fuck._

 

Sure, Stiles thought Lydia was attractive. She was greek goddess level really, but her personality was so not Stiles’s cup of tea. He didn’t know what it was about the strawberry blonde that drove him so crazy, but he wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

 

Stiles practically runs towards the apartment door in haste, trying desperately to escape the apartment before…

 

“Stiles!”

 

Scott’s unmistakable deep gruff calls out to him. Stiles stops his pacing and closes his eyes, calming himself.

 

_Here we go._

He plasters a fake smile onto his face and slowly turns towards his best friend. He’s standing there, shirtless with an arm around Kira, who looks almost too hung-over to function.

 

“Hey guys! How are you this morning? Kira you look great!” Kira practically growls at him and he hates to admit it, but he flinches a slight bit.

 

“What did she say?” Kira asks.

 

Stiles had woken up to a call from Scott and Kira asking him/threatening him to make peace with Lydia. After explaining to him that Lydia was their friend now, and that it was just going to be easier on everyone if they got along, he had reluctantly agreed to attempt to make peace. Hence, the coffee.

 

“She took my peace offering.” Stiles says with confidently.

 

“She wanted you to tell me that she still thinks you’re the scum of the earth.” Scott says a matter of factly. Stiles rolls his eyes.

 

“If you listened into the entire thing, why waste your time confronting me about it?” Stiles asks clearly annoyed.

 

“Just wanted to see if you’d be honest with us.” Kira says as she takes a sip of her water bottle.

 

“Well, I wasn’t totally dishonest with you!” Stiles says. Scott looks at him, disappointed.

 

“Don’t look at me like that, Scotty. I know I’m being a dick and I tried to be nice to her…” Scott looks at Stiles doubtfully “…Okay I sorta tried to be nice to her, okay maybe not at all really...”

 

“You know she helped a lot last night. She cleaned and she helped take care of Kira. All while you were off with your girlfriend or off in your room after having a third grade temper tantrum.” Scott scolds.

 

“And she even defended you after your uncalled for outburst.” Allison appears at the door of her bedroom, clearly having just woken up.

 

Stiles looks at his friends, noting their disapproving looks. Even though he couldn’t care less about Lydia, he did give a huge shit about his friends and how they feel. So he bucks up.

 

“I’m gonna try harder. I’ll do better next time. If you guys like her, I trust you.”

 

Scott, Allison and Kira all analyze Stiles for a moment, then look at each other silently, trying to ask each other telepathically how they feel. Stiles feels himself beginning to sweat. They nod to each other, coming to an agreement.

 

“Okay, we believe you.”

 

Stiles exhales in relief and smiles fondly at his friends. Scott tries not to smile back, but can’t help one escape. Stiles looks over at Allison.

 

“Although I did come to try and make peace with the devil…I mean Lydia, I am here for another reason. Allison, get dressed, you’re coming with me.”

 

Allison looks at him confused.

 

“Why?” she asks.

 

Stiles smiles at her fondly, “You know why.”

 

It takes a moment, but Allison’s face changes from confused to understanding. She nods at Stiles and turns to get changed. Scott and Kira are both smiling at Stiles sadly and Stiles waves a dismissive hand at them. The three begin to have small talk until Allison is ready. Allison and Stiles bid their best friends goodbye and are on their way out the door. They reach the elevator and stand there in silence.

 

“I sorta thought you’d forget this year. You’ve been so busy with Malia and..” Allison says looking down at her black booties, but Stiles cuts her off.

 

“I would never forget something like this, Allison. No matter what’s going on.”

 

_Especially when we’re in the same boat._

Stiles grabs her hand and squeezes it reassuringly. Allison smiles at him sadly and lets one tear fall from her eye. The elevator door opens, and the two walk together somberly, hand in hand to his car.

 

* * *

 

Lydia tentatively opens her bedroom door and scans the apartment for Stiles.

 

“He’s gone. Left with Allison a half an hour ago,” Scott says from the kitchen. He’s standing in front of the stove, making what Lydia assumes is bacon based on the heavenly smell moving through the apartment.

 

Lydia moves toward the counter and sits herself down on a barstool. She looks at Scott sincerely, “I’m really sorry if I’m being annoying or dramatic about the whole Stiles thing. I’ll let up on him, I swear. He just needs to sweat it a bit.”

 

“Please don’t let up!” Kira says from the coach in the conjoined living room. Kira sits up uncomfortably, clearly still pretty nauseous from all the vomiting from last night. Lydia gets up to make her some tea.

 

“Stiles is usually great to us, but he has this thing about bringing new people into the group. He’s always been so rude to anyone who’s tried. Remember Erica Reyes?” Kira directs her question to Scott.

 

“Poor girl.”

 

“Vernon Boyd?”

 

“Never had a chance. He got us into this skating rink he works at around here too. It was a big loss for everyone.”

 

“And Matt Dahler?”

 

“Umm to be honest I didn’t really like him either.” Scott says truthfully.

 

“Yeah, he was a creep. Bad example. But what I’m saying is that he was so mean to these people and for what? Because he’s afraid of change? I’m sorry, but he needs to get over himself. You’re the first person to ever stand up to him. I think it’s good for him to have someone give it back to him for once.”

 

Scott nods in agreement, “I can already tell he’s frazzled.”

 

Lydia looks at the two of them quizzically as she boils some water in a kettle, “So you’re saying I should be mean to him?”

 

“No!” Scott exclaims, “I mean don’t be mean to him for no reason. I just mean that you should be mean to him when he’s mean to you.” Scott says with a smile. “Does that make sense?”

 

“Yeah, I guess.”

 

The kettle screeches and Lydia grabs some tea bags from her container. She fills three cups. She puts one down in front of Scott, “Green tea for us.”

 

She makes her way over to Kira and plops down next to her, offering her a mug of tea. “And peppermint tea for you. It helps settle nausea.“

 

Kira grabs the tea and smiles at Lydia gratefully.

 

“You’re a lifesaver.”

 

“As am I. Bacon and eggs for the ladies.” Scott comes over with two plates. Lydia happily takes the plate from Scott and thanks him as her stomach grumbles in hunger. She places the plate on the coffee table in front of her and gets up.

 

“Where are you going?” Scott asks, afraid she didn’t like the food he just made her.

 

Lydia opens the refrigerator, “Just grabbing some ketchup, I can’t eat eggs without it.” She grabs the bottle and sits back down next to Kira on the couch and begins squeezing the bottle. Scott looks at her laughing.

 

“Funny, Stiles can’t either.”

 

Lydia’s heart beats a bit faster at the knowledge that she has something in common with Stiles. She mentally scolds herself for being so irrational and childish.

 

_He sucks, why are you excited about that?_

 

Lydia forms a tight line with her mouth, “Well at least that boy has at least one redeeming factor.” Scott and Kira laugh. She starts eating her food.

 

“Where did Stiles and Allison go anyways?” Lydia asks, letting her curiosity get the best of her. Scott and Kira share a look and Kira nods at Scott. He slowly puts his plate down onto the counter and wipes his mouth with a napkin, Lydia getting the vibe that things were about to get serious.

 

“I’m going to tell you this because Allison is a bit of an open book, and I don’t think she’d mind if I did.”

 

Lydia nods her head and puts her plate down as well, listening intently to Scott.

 

“Allison’s mom died six years ago today. Stiles, Allison and I were just starting out Junior year in high school when it happened. It really messed Allison up for a while there and I was there for her of course, but Stiles was so helpful because…well, it doesn’t matter why.” Lydia is intrigued, but doesn’t push.

 

“Allison would always visit her mother’s grave when we were home, especially on the anniversary of her death. Freshman year, Allison was pretty bummed that she wasn’t home to visit. Beacon Hills is only about a two and a half hour drive from here, but she didn’t have her car here and her dad had work until later that day. She told us she was fine, but we knew she wasn’t. So Stiles surprised her. He told her they were just going to the mall, but he drove her all the way home to the cemetery. Stiles then dropped her off at a restaurant where Allison’s dad was waiting after work and he’s done it every year since.”

 

Lydia allows herself to process the story. She number one, felt so incredibly bad for Allison and mentally makes a note to get something for her before she got back. And number two, Lydia felt a strong sense of confliction in terms of Stiles. The Stiles who takes his mourning best friend to visit her mother’s grave every year is not the Stiles who’s been nothing but rude to her from the start.

 

“Maybe Stiles has more than one redeeming factor.” Lydia quips. “But in all seriousness, that’s really great of him. Maybe we can all put in and buy some flowers for Allison?”

 

“Stiles already collected money and got flowers from all of us,” Kira says while pointing to the big arrangement of flowers on the counter that Lydia hadn’t noticed yet.

 

She gets up to take a look at them. They’re a mix of red and white roses with green leaves wrapped in tool. They look beautiful. The note poking out the side of the vase catches Lydia’s attention. She grabs it and opens it up.

 

_We know you’re mother is proud of you, Allison. We love you and are here if you need us._

Lydia smiles at the note, but it’s the salutation that throws her off. At the very bottom, after everyone else’s signature, lies Lydia’s name. It’s written sloppily with the ‘t’ in ‘Martin’ not fully slashed across the line. Lydia may be a genius, but she didn’t have to be one to figure out who had signed her name. Scrawled just as sloppily at the top of the signatures is Stiles Stilinski’s name, not fully crossed t’s and all.

 

Lydia’s heart swells with appreciation and confusion. She drops her head onto her hand and leans on the counter while analyzing the card.

 

_Maybe he isn’t so bad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been doing Stiles dirty this whole fic and it's time to redeem him a bit. This is where Lydia and you guys start to see the real him. Hope you've warmed up to him a bit after this. Also wanted to make a quick note. I had a bit of an angry comment about how Malia is portrayed in this fic and I wanted to say that I didn't tag her character for a reason. She isn't going to be good in this fic. She will have moments down the road where you understand her character and her actions, but overall she will be pretty annoying. Hope anyone who liked her can look past it while reading this and I respect people who do like her. Anyways this is a long rant, thank you for reading! Comment and kudos please xoxo


	7. Gooey

Looking down anxiously at his phone, Stiles groans.

 

_7:45am_

 

He throw his phone back into his pocket, annoyed, and weighs his options in his head.

 

_Do I get to class on time, or do I go late with coffee?_

 

Stiles had somehow luckily avoided early classes at Stanford for three years. It was a dark day last semester when his adviser informed him the only Analytical Chemistry class being offered next semester was at 8am. After throwing an outright, but totally understandable, tantrum, Stiles begrudgingly had to sign up.

 

_Why are classes even allowed to be at 8am?_

 

He had set his alarm for 7:15. It took him all of fifteen minutes to eat, brush his teeth, change and head out the door. Stiles knew there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to function in an 8am class without coffee, so he makes his way to campus. He had stopped at the Starbucks on campus first, but the line was completely ridiculous. So he had decided he had enough time to stop at his favorite cafe. The quaint, coffee shop was about a ten minute walk from his class and the place was never crowded in the afternoon. But he soon found out that fact was only true because everyone had come in the morning.

 

Standing in the way back of the line, Stiles began biting his nails.

 

Stiles's annoyance at waiting in line only grew when he spotted the unmistakable strawberry blonde hair eight people in head of him. Not only was she next in line, but she was also looking so unbelievably beautiful and put together in her tan booties, plaid high-waisted skirt and maroon cut off shirt. Stiles scoffed from the back of the line. Doesn't she realize how early it is?

 

_I hope she spills her coffee._

 

As if she could feel Stiles glaring at the back of her head, Lydia turns around. Not really knowing what to do, he just kind of looks away and pretends to not have seen her. She turns back around and Stiles goes back to staring, his eyes falling down to her very short skirt and very long legs. He makes his way back up and positively spazzes when he sees she's turned back around too, catching him checking her out. He looks away again and awkwardly begins scratching his head. He doesn't see her roll her eyes and chuckle at him as she turns back around to order her coffee

 

Trying to keep himself from staring at her, Stiles decides to busy himself by checking his phone again.

 

_7:50_

 

"Damn it."

 

Stiles knew he just couldn't be late to class on his first day. He had never had Doctor Harris for class before and he heard the man was a stickler for attendance and punctuality. With a sigh of defeat, Stiles turns, heads out the door and begins his trek to class outside.

 

"Stiles!"

 

Stiles turns and is shocked to see Lydia jogging towards him, two cups of coffee in hand. Despite himself, he starts playing with his backpack strap nervously.

 

“Hey Lydia, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have class in ten and it’s gonna suck because unlike you I don’t have coffee, so..”

 

Lydia hold out the coffee in her left and smiles sweetly.

 

“Well, now you do.”

 

Stiles looks at the coffee quizzically.

 

“What?”

 

Lydia rolls her eyes.

 

“Take the coffee, Stiles.”

 

Stiles slowly reaches out for the coffee and, like the last time, their fingers touch. Also like the last time, Stiles feels sparks. Lydia smiles awkwardly.

 

“Well, I hope your 8am doesn’t suck as much now.”

 

She begins to walk to her class, and Stiles follows closely behind.

 

“Is this a peace offering?”

 

Stiles asks mockingly from behind her. Lydia slows her pace, allowing him to catch up to her. Stiles notes Lydia’s pursed lips, attempting to hide a smirk.

 

“Stiles, you were practically about to spontaneously combust at the back of the line in there, it’s pity coffee.”

 

Stiles shakes his head.

 

“I’m not so sure though. It’s the exact same coffee I gave you as my peace offering.“

 

“Extra pump of toffee nut and all.” Lydia mocks.

 

“All I’m saying is I’m detecting some symbolism.”

 

Lydia abruptly stops walking and turns to Stiles. He follows suit, noting the seriousness in her face.

 

“Okay, so it is a peace offering. I really, truly am grateful that you wrote my name on the card to Allison. You didn’t have to do that.”

 

“I didn’t do it for you.”

 

“I know that. You did it for the same reason I’m giving you the coffee.”

 

Stiles shakes his head, understanding.

 

“For Allison.”

 

Lydia nods.

 

“And Kira, and Scott, and Isaac, and Derek, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

 

Stiles looks down.

 

“Look, I’m not going anywhere. Your friends are great, they think you’re great for some odd reason and they think I’m great too, which I get because I am.” Stiles glares at her. “It’s just easier if we’re civil.” Lydia raises her coffee, “or at least at peace.”

 

Stiles looks her in the eyes. The sun is hitting her in a way that makes them shine a breathtaking shade of green. He notes the sincerity and vulnerability. He raises his coffee as well and they clink.

 

“Peace it is.”

 

“But I’m still onto you.” Stiles adds as an afterthought.

 

Stiles notices her visibly stiffen. She quickly changes the subject.

 

“I should really get to class, I don’t want to be late, I’ve heard Doctor Harris is crazy about punctuality…”

 

“Doctor Harris? Are you going to Analytical Chemistry?” Stiles asks incredulously.

 

“Yeah.” Lydia says as she starts walking, Stiles continues to walk with her. “Why are you following me? You’re gonna be late for your 8am.”

 

“I’m going to Analytical Chemistry with Dr. Harris too.” Stiles says.

 

Lydia looks over at him, clearly impressed.

 

“Oh, that’s nice.”

 

“So you really are smart, aren’t you?” Stiles asks.

 

“A genius.” Lydia says with a wink.

 

Stiles laughs and they walk together in a comfortable silence. He looks over at her as she smiles at a stranger who caught her eye. Stiles smiles.

 

_Maybe she isn’t so bad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update, I started a new job and have been catching my bearings. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know it's relatively short, but I just wanted to establish their civility towards each other. Also, let me know if you hate my format. On word the spaces make it much more legible, but they seem unnecessary on here. Please comment and kudos, they really motivate me to write. xoxo


	8. River

As Lydia and Stiles approached the classroom, Lydia's mind went into overdrive.

 

_Okay, so we're in the same class. We're not friends, but we're not enemies. Do 'not friends', but 'not enemies' sit next to each other? I wonder what he's thinking..._

 

"So, do we sit next to each other?" Stiles blurts out next to her.

 

Lydia turns to him and his eyes are wide with shock.

 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud."

 

Lydia raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow at him.

 

"Well.." Lydia starts to answer, unsure of what to say.

 

They both enter the classroom and see only two seats available next to each other in the front.

 

"...it seems fate has decided to answer that question for us." Stiles finishes for her.

 

They both smile awkwardly at each other and take their seats. To Lydia's delight, Doctor Harris comes in almost immediately, leaving no time for Lydia to have to conjure up some meaningless small talk with Stiles.

 

"Welcome to Analytical Chemistry, I'm Doctor Harris, I'm sure you've all heard a lot about me."

 

Students all around snickered at the man. Lydia smiled. The talk around campus was that Doctor Harris was a total dick who thought his classes were of the utmost importance to every student who took them. He had been known to fight often with students and even kick them out of his class. Lydia knew this class would be a relative challenge for her and she accepted the challenge excitedly.

 

"Not that I really want to know much of anything about you cretins, but I'll have everyone go around the room, say your name, where you're from and what your major is. Let's start with you, princess." Doctor Harris points to Lydia with a creepy smile.

 

Lydia sits up and clears her throat.

 

"I'm Lydia Martin. I'm from New York City and I'm double majoring in biochemistry and physics."

 

"Lydia Martin?" Doctor Harris squints his eyes at her, "Did you happen to go to Harvard?"

 

Stiles turns his head to her and Lydia's heart speeds up, but she remains cool.

 

"Yes."

 

"So, you're the Lydia Martin who co-wrote the thesis on how fibroblasts enhance migration of human lung cancer cells in a paper-based coculture system with Doctor Newsome in only her junior year?"

 

Now, not only is Stiles staring at her, but the entire class. Lydia, feeling slightly embarrassed, tries to downplay her achievement.

 

"I interned for Doctor Newsome since my freshman year, he really didn't have to put my name on the thesis, but he is very generous."

 

Lydia remembered how mad Jackson would get when she would spend hours at the lab doing research. But to Lydia, a couple of bruises here and there were well worth the knowledge and experience she got out of her time at the lab. As much as Lydia loved to learn, she loved putting her knowledge into practice more. Her internship with Doctor Newsome was a dream.

 

_But now that's all over._

 

"Generous indeed." Doctor Harris looks her up and down critically.

 

He turns his head to Stiles, who is still gaping at Lydia.

 

"Keep up, sir!" Doctor Harris yells.

 

Stiles shoots up and quickly catches his bearings.

 

"Uhh, sorry. Yeah. I'm Stiles Stilinski and I'm totally not nearly as cool as Lydia here is."

The class laughs. Doctor Harris does not. "Right. Um, I'm from Beacon Hills, California and I'm majoring in Forensic Science."

 

Doctor Harris narrows his eyes at Stiles.

 

"Right. Next victim."

 

As people go around the room and introduce themselves, Stiles turns his head toward Lydia.

 

"You're already published?" He whispers.

 

Lydia looks up to see if Doctor Harris is paying attention. When she sees he's not, she whispers back.

 

"I mean, yeah. It’s really no big deal" Lydia says nonchalantly.

 

_Lie. It’s practically unheard of._

 

"No big deal? It’s practically unheard of." He says, unconvinced.

 

Lydia side eyes him.

 

"Practically, but not totally." Lydia counters, basking in the way Stiles can't help but look insanely impressed.

 

Doctor Harris slams his hands on top of the desk. Lydia throws a hand to her chest, whereas Stiles almost falls out of his seat.

 

“Since the two of you seem to love talking, why doesn’t one of you explain to the class the phenomenon of electrophoresis?” Doctor Harris asks venomously.

 

Stiles begins gawking.

 

“Uhh, ahh.”

 

Lydia speaks up.

 

“Electrophoresis is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field…”

* * *

 

 “I knew what electrophoresis was, I was just caught off guard.” Stiles says as he exits the classroom with Lydia.

 

_Lie. I had no idea._

“I believe you.” Lydia says feebly.

 

“No, I really did.”

 

“I said I believed you.”

 

“But you don’t believe me. You’re not very convincing, you know.”

 

Lydia sniggers at Stiles.

 

“I’m not trying to be.”

 

Stiles drops his jaw over dramatically.

 

“Hardy har har.” Stiles says unimpressed by Lydia’s power trip.

 

“Well, I don’t know why you care about whether I think you knew what it was or not.”

 

_I don’t really know either._

 

“Okay, I admit it. electrophoresis may have evaded me. But that’s only because I’m much more well-versed in chromatography and field flow fractionation.”

 

Lydia laughs beside him. Stiles’s heart warms at the sound.

 

“Hey, would you mind telling me where the cafeteria is? I wanted to grab food quickly before my next class.” Lydia asks.

 

Stiles shocks himself by offering to walk her. Lydia seems surprised by the offer as well, but simply nods her head instead of making a stink about it. Stiles didn’t know why, but he felt like he wanted to know more about the strawberry blonde-haired enigma.

 

_Know thy enemy._

But he couldn’t quite even convince himself that thought was the only reason why. In reality, it was nice to talk with someone who was on the same playing field as him intellectually. Malia wasn’t exactly a rocket scientist, and the rest of his friends were certainly smart, but they didn’t share the same passions as him. Lydia Martin was the first fair challenge Stiles had encountered in a while. And as much as it killed him, he couldn’t resist taking the bait.

 

“So what time is your next class?” Stiles asks.

 

“12:30.” Lydia replies.

 

“Huh. Mine too.” Stiles says.

 

_I wonder._

“Molecular Biology?” Lydia and Stiles both ask at the same time.

 

“Damn. What’s the rest of your schedule like?” Stiles asks.

 

As it turns out, Stiles and Lydia were sharing three out of their five classes together, plus their Analytical Chemistry lab. As the two ate a quick sandwich at the cafeteria, they discussed their favorite aspects of science and where they wanted to be in ten years. Stiles explained how he ultimately wanted to be a detective and Lydia explained how she essentially wanted to take over the world with her brain. When Lydia got up to refill her water, Stiles sat at the table excited for her to come back so they could talk some more. This is not how Stiles saw his day going, sitting at lunch with Lydia Martin, random hot girl in car, turned sworn enemy, turned peaceful acquaintance, turned…well Stiles wasn’t too sure yet, but he did know that he wanted to find out. Stiles couldn’t remember having a better first day of classes. When Lydia returned to the table, Stiles was ready with a new topic he wanted to pick her brain about.

 

_Know thy enemy._

He repeated in his head as he listened to her speak. Lydia switched her crossed legs, causing her already short skirt to ride up her thighs more. Stiles clenched a fist and shoved the nail of his thumb into his mouth.

 

_I just wish my enemy wasn’t this hot._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Stiles and Lydia are starting to get to know each other more. I am so grateful to those who comment and kudos, you all really motivate me to keep writing xoxo


	9. Nightmares

_Lydia laughs drunkenly as she almost topples over with Kira in the middle of the dance floor. Allison and Isaac are grinding up on each other to her right. Stiles, Scott and Derek are laughing at something on Scott’s phone in a huddle over to her left. The rest of the boys’ house is filled with sweaty bodies holding red cups. The lights are out and black lights make the whole middle floor glow with neon colors._

_Kira begins pulling out her best dance moves, causing the party to form a circle around her as they cheer her on. Allison, who had broken away from Isaac to admire her brown-haired best friend’s notoriously fierce dancing, throws an arm around Lydia’s shoulders as they cheer on. Stiles has his phone pulled out, documenting the whole ordeal for Snapchat, probably._

_As Lydia bobs to the music with her new friends, Lydia tries to remember the last time she felt this carefree, this light._

_‘I’m happy’ she thinks as Scott joins Kira in the middle of the circle, embarrassingly attempting to keep up with her moves._

_But all of a sudden the lights turn back on._

_Lydia looks up and around, confused._

_“What the hell?” Lydia says, annoyed._

_When she puts her head back down to scan the room, she notices all of her friends and partygoers are frozen and all looking in the same direction._

_“Hello, Lydia.”_

_Lydia tenses, the voice sending shock waves through her body. With fear bellowing in her stomach, Lydia begrudgingly turns her head toward the voice._

_Jackson stands in front of the boy’s open door. His chiseled jaw is clenched and he is wearing his signature scowl. Jackson’s mouth upturns into an arrogant smirk._

_“I told you I’d find you. And now, you’re coming home.”_

_Jackson stalks toward Lydia. It takes a few strides before Lydia has the sense to turn and try and run, but as she begins her escape, she runs right into something hard and falls onto her butt._

_She looks up frantically to see Scott, Stiles, Isaac, Kira, Derek, and Allison forming a wall in front of her, effectively blocking her from getting to the back door._

_“What are you guys doing?” Lydia screams as she gets up to run through them, Jackson gaining ground behind her._

_At her second attempt, she tries to squeeze between Isaac and Kira, only to be grabbed by them and thrown back to the ground. Lydia looks up at them incredulously. They look ahead of her, impassive._

_Lydia’s blood runs cold as Jackson grabs her hair from behind. He kneels down and brings his lips to her ear._

_“You’re mine.” He whispers venomously._

_Jackson then begins pulling Lydia away, dragging her by her hair toward the door. Lydia thrashes and tries to free herself. She looks over desperately to her friends with a last ditch hope they’d save her._

_“Please, help me!” She screams. But they just look at her with a look of disgust on their faces._

_“Help me, help me, help me, help me….”_

“LYDIA!”

 

Lydia jolts awake, disoriented.

 

As her nightmare fades from her eyes, she’s vaguely aware of two strong arms firmly shaking her. She finally sees the face of Stiles Stilinski looking worriedly into her eyes. She slowly lifts one of her hands to the back of her head, still feeling Jackson’s hands pulling her by her hair toward the door.

 

“Lydia, what the hell?” Allison’s concerned face whips next to Stiles.

 

“Wha?” Lydia asks as takes in her surroundings.

 

Kira is to the right of her bed, one hand covering her mouth, the other wrapped tightly around Scott’s black banded bicep. To the left of her bed is Allison, who has her body craned over uncomfortably trying to examine Lydia. And Stiles…well Stiles is literally on top of Lydia, straddling her waist as he held her up. If Lydia hadn’t just had one of the worst nightmares of her life, she would have probably found herself turned on. But currently, she is completely freaking out.

 

Lydia had been at Stanford for just a little over a month now and things had been going really well. Kira, Allison and her were like the three amigos. They watched trashy TV together, went shopping together and spent their free time just being in each other’s company.

 

Lydia and the boys got along great as well. Scott and her bonded over their mutual love of dogs and often sent each other pictures of the cutest puppies they could find on the internet. Lydia found out that Derek had a love of mythology and the two would discuss their favorite mythological creatures. Lydia was still waiting for Derek to put her into contact with his Uncle, who taught a mythology class at NYU, so that she could pick his brain about all things Aphrodite. Isaac still hit on her whenever he got the chance, which bothered Allison, although she’d never say it. And although Stiles and her got off to a rocky start, they developed some kind of weird repertoire between them that consisted of tearing the mickey out of each other and trying to outsmart the other, while fighting the urge to smile like idiots when they were around each other. Kira likes to say they have sexual tension. Lydia likes to disagree…out loud.

 

Lydia was even able to tolerate Malia. Sure she was a complete bitch, but Lydia is a bitch back, a trait that Malia seemed to respect. Plus, she seemed to genuinely make Stiles happy, which made Lydia both happy and oddly jealous. Lydia still hadn’t gotten the full story as to why the friend group hated Malia so much, but she knew that whatever had happened had caused a ripple in the group for a little while.

 

Overall, Lydia was really feeling great at Stanford. Her classes were going great and was finally feeling like she belonged.

 

So finding herself being looked at like she was a crazy person by some of her new friends really felt like a set back for Lydia.

 

“Are you okay?” Stiles asks, his face so close to hers she can smell his coffee breath as he speaks.

 

“Yeah. I’m sorry, bad dream.” Lydia says, her voice hoarse. She begins blinking a few times, still clearly unsettled from her dream. Stiles, noticing her discomfort, begins moving his hands on her arms up and down in a soothing manner. Lydia begins to relax.

 

“A bad dream? We thought you were being attacked!” Kira waves her arms wildly.

 

“Well, I was being attacked… In my dream.” Lydia replies cheekily. Allison rolls her eyes.

 

“It reminded me of when Isaac used to have his night terrors.” Scott says from the side. Stiles nods his head in Scott’s direction.

 

Lydia, feeling the need for some damage control, begins to explain.

 

“I’m sorry. I used to have night terrors all the time in high school, but it’s been years since I had one. I didn’t really think to warn you guys just in case.” Lydia says looking to Kira and Allison.

 

In reality, Lydia never had nightmares until Jackson and her relationship reached the crux of its toxicity. It was the night after he slammed her head against a wall for back talking him after a party her freshman year of college that she had her first one. In that nightmare, she saw from a third person’s perspective her head break like a china doll as Jackson bashed her skull against the wall. He walked purposefully over her broken shards before she woke up with tears streaming down her face. She cradled her head for hours before she finally fell back to sleep.

 

“What were you being attacked by?” Stiles asks questioningly as he removes his hands stroking Lydia’s arms. Lydia misses the contact more than she’d like to admit.

 

“A werewolf.” Lydia answers quickly. “I was in the middle of a field. There were people cheering in the stands and this man started approaching me from the dark. As he got closer, his eyes turned red and he transformed into a werewolf right in front of me. He pounced on me. I started screaming, but no one around me would do anything.” Lydia says mentally praising her great ability of putting together a vivid and convincing story under pressure.

 

_Which is just a fancy way of saying lying._

 

“And then I woke up, err you woke me up.” Lydia finishes.

 

“That sounds horrifying.” Allison says. “I was always afraid of werewolves.” She says, visibly shivering at the mention.

 

“There’s no such thing as werewolves.” Scott says reassuringly to her. She smiles at him.

 

“Okay, well, I’m glad you’re okay.” Kira says sincerely. Lydia smiles at her.

 

“We were waiting for you to get up so we could grab some food and then head out.” Scott says.

 

“Head out where?” Lydia asks.

 

“To the haunted hayride?” Allison says.

 

A light goes off in Lydia’s head. The gang were driving three hours to a famous haunted hayride in California. They had been talking about it all week, anxiously waiting until the weekend to go. They were gonna drive up, stop to grab an early dinner, go to the hayride, then drive home. The hayride was apparently actually really scary. At least that’s what Greenberg said in Stiles and Lydia’s Philosophy II class. He had told Lydia that he crapped his pants, a fact that Lydia couldn’t believe he admitted out loud. But Greenberg had actually gotten her pretty scared until Stiles calmed her down.

 

“Greenberg once called campus security to save him from an intruder in his room.” Stiles explained.

 

“That seems like a sensible reason to call campus security.” Lydia countered.

 

“It was a mouse.”

 

Lydia had no answer to that.

 

“That’s right!” Lydia exclaims to the group.

 

“So get up and get ready!” Kira says excitedly to Lydia.

 

Lydia nods and smiles at her. She looks over to Stiles who is smiling at her excitedly, still perched on top of her and stopping her from getting up.

 

“Umm..Stiles?” Lydia starts awkwardly. His smile fades and he looks at her confused, not understanding what was happening.

 

“Stiles get off of her!” Allison yells.

 

Stiles leaps off of the Lydia and accidentally off of the bed. He falls onto his side, ungracefully. He flails himself up from the ground, face red from embarrassment. He puts his hand behind his head and scratches.

 

“Sorry.” He says to Lydia sheepishly. “Be ready in 15, we’re starving!” He demands as he practically runs out of her room.

 

Lydia laughs at him and the rest of the group rolls their eyes. Lydia turns to her friends.

 

“You know I’m gonna need at least 25, right?” Lydia says.

 

Kira narrows her eyes.

 

“Not if I do your hair. Come on, Lyds!” Allison exclaims as she pulls Lydia up by her arm.

 

Lydia laughs, the terror of her nightmare slowly fading from her stomach. Allison curls Lydia’s hair while she brushes her teeth and does her makeup. Lydia was excited for the day, but a part of her wished she had a guy to hold onto when she inevitably got scared at the hayride. Little did she know, she would get just that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! It took me a while to be able to sit down and write this chapter. I've had a lot going on, so I haven't been able to write as much, but hopefully you guys are still interested in this story! It's a long chapter, but it's kind of a build up for the next one. Sending my love to all those who commented and gave kudos. You guys seriously drive me to write, thank you so much xoxo


	10. Haunted

Lydia’s excitement for the night quickly dissipated about two hours into the car ride. All of the girls were supposed to take Allison’s car up to the haunted hayride and the boys were supposed to take Theo’s. Allison and Kira were perfectly equipped to spend three hours with Malia. Kira even made an album that included country, Malia’s favorite genre. Lydia was excited for a girl’s road trip full of gossiping, singing and boy talk. But when Malia found out she wouldn’t be spending her car ride with Stiles, she threw an outright temper tantrum. The group reluctantly agreed to split the cars at random, except for the ‘package deal’ as Malia so sweetly called her and Stiles. Lydia got stuck in Theo’s car with the twosome along with Scott.

 

Which leads to Lydia’s current state of annoyance. She’s presently squished to the furthest end of the passenger side door with her head against the window, avoiding Theo’s constant attempts to put his hand on her thigh. In her rearview, Lydia is plagued by the constant sight of Stiles and Malia just short of doing it in the backseat, baby talk included. The only person Lydia feels worse for than herself is Scott, who bit the bullet for Lydia and offered to sit next to Stiles and Malia in the back.

 

Currently, Malia has her seatbelt off, legs sprawled over Stiles’s legs, feet just managing to poke Scott’s thigh. She and him are making out with vigor. Lydia, in an attempt to avert her eyes, looks over at Theo. To her surprise, he is darkly watching in his own rearview Malia and Stiles go at it as well. Suddenly, he hits the breaks. Malia rolls from her seat/Stiles’s lap onto the floor of the car and yelps.

 

“Sorry, someone brake checked me.” Theo announces as Stiles helps Malia from the car floor.

 

Lydia looks at Theo scrutinizing. He has a slight smirk on his face.

 

_Did he do that on purpose?_

 

Lydia shakes the thought and saves it in her mind for later examination. She’s just currently relieved Stiles is forcing Malia to buckle up and sit up straight for the rest of the car ride for her safety. Lydia would have maybe thought it was a cute gesture if they hadn’t just spent the last two hours annoying the crap out of her.

 

“Are we almost there?” Malia whines to Theo.

 

“We’re about an hour away.” Theo informs.

 

“We would’ve already been there if I was driving.” Stiles calls from the backseat.

 

Lydia rolls her eyes.

 

“We would have never made it there if you were driving.” Lydia teases.

 

“Hey, I resent that! Roscoe would have gotten us there just fine. It’s just getting us back that I couldn’t exactly promise.” Stiles replies cheekily in the back.

 

Lydia laughs.

 

Scott’s phone begins to buzz and he picks up the call.

 

“Derek said there’s a diner coming up on our left that they’re gonna stop at for food.”

 

Lydia’s stomach grumbles at the word food and she’s relieved when Theo takes a sharp left about a minute later. The gang gets out of their cars and goes into the diner for a bite to eat. Lydia ends up with Allison on her left and Stiles on her right at the diner table. Much to Malia's dismay, Stiles and Lydia spend the entire time eating and discussing the upcoming election. Lydia didn't even notice how much time passed while her and Stiles discussed, until the waiter came to bring out their checks. Lydia blushes when she realizes they had spent the entire time ignoring the rest of the table to talk. Lydia quickly looked across the table at Malia, expecting a nasty glare. But Malia was warped into her own conversation with Theo and Lydia exhaled in relief. Allison leans over to Lydia and whispers to her.

"So, Lydia, now that you're done flirting with Stiles..."

 

"I was not flirting with Stiles! We were talking about politics." Lydia interjects.

 

"Well I didn't understand a word of it, but it sounded like flirting." Allison teases. Lydia glares at her.

 

"Pay your bill and let's go, lady." Lydia whispers to Allison, annoyed. Allison winks at her as she grabs a twenty from her wallet.

* * *

 

“Your journey will begin in the hayride where you’ll be taken into the forest of doom. Then, you will have to follow a path in the forest to the dark maze. From the maze you’ll get back onto the hayride through the farmhouse. Finally, if you’ve made it that far, you’ll make your way into the insane asylum where the patients have overrun the facility. Take note that you may be separated from your group at some point…”

 

Lydia looks at the unenthused hayride worker as she raddles off the details of the ride. The gang had made it to the hayride after a torturous four-hour journey. They bought their tickets online and only had to fill out a waiver that none of them read before they were deposited in an hour-long line. The sun was beginning to set before the gang got onto the hayride. Lydia was squished between Allison and Kira, while they listened to the rules of the excursion. Next to Kira was obviously Scott, and Lydia managed to get Isaac next to Allison despite his best effort to sit next to her. Malia, Stiles, Derek and Theo were off on the other side of the small truck surrounded by strangers.

 

“…You are not allowed to go off course or touch the hayride actors, but they are allowed to touch you, which you all consented to in the waivers you signed when you arrived here.”

 

_They can touch us? Greenberg didn’t mention that._

Lydia began to panic slightly. She wasn’t someone that easily scared. She was always the girl who forced her friends to go see scary movies with her. She has a fond memory of playing “The Ring” at her 10th birthday party and almost all of her friends called their parents crying to be picked up later that night. Lydia slept soundly that night while her brave, but not brave enough, friends that remained pulled an all-nighter snuggled together. But tonight, she wasn’t sure how she’d be about the grabbing.

 

“If you don’t want to be grabbed, please come up and take one of these glow necklaces so the actors know not to touch you,” The worker informs.

 

Lydia looks around at her friends. Kira is the only one who looks like she’s thinking about taking it Lydia notices. Apparently, Scott does too.

 

“Kira, do you want a necklace?” Scott asks Kira sweetly.

 

Kira looks conflicted.

 

“I kind of do, I’m afraid! But none of you are taking it, I don’t want to be alone.”

 

“I’ll take one if it makes you feel better!” Lydia quickly tells Kira, hoping to pass off her nervousness for being a good friend. Kira smiles at Lydia.

 

“Really?” Kira asks. Lydia nods at her. Kira thinks for a moment and looks at the worker.

 

“Is it really that scary?” She asks.

 

“We had someone crap themselves just last week.” The worker informs. Lydia and Stiles lock eyes from across the ride and smile wickedly. Lydia finds herself forgetting about her fear for just a second as Stiles and her share a moment. The calm Stiles was able to give her quickly disappears when Kira gets a burst of confidence.

 

“You know what? No. I don’t need a necklace, I’ve got this. Thanks anyways Lydia.” Kira smiles at Lydia. Lydia musters up the best assuring smile she can get at the moment and nods at Kira as the hayride begins.

 

There are three things Lydia realizes toward the end of the haunted hayride. Number one: Malia is really fucking annoying. Every single scare, no matter how obvious, Malia screams and latches onto Stiles. Allison has been whispering in Lydia’s ear making fun of her for it and Isaac has been making fun of Malia out loud. At one point a hick with a chainsaw was terrorizing the stranger next to Malia and SHE was the one who wouldn’t stop screaming. Even Stiles has begun rolling his eyes at his girlfriend, seemingly embarrassed by the looks the strangers on the ride were giving him and her.

 

The second thing Lydia realized is how bad of a leader Derek is. The group had designated him the head of the line in the dark maze. He was supposed to quickly and effortlessly guide them to the end of the pitch black maze, but all he did was keep running them into walls and getting lost. So Lydia broke her hands free from Isaac’s sweaty ones and Allison’s soft ones and took the lead of the pack, effectively getting them out of the maze within five minutes.

 

Which lead Lydia to the third thing she realized.

 

_That I’m a freaking badass._

Her friends latched to her the entire time as she confidently didn’t scream once during the first hayride, took the lead in the dark room and even helped Allison get away from two actors who were terrorizing her on the second hayride. She had also effectively avoided getting touched by the actors the whole night. Lydia had surprised herself so far. She felt like her old self again, fearless and fierce. That was until the asylum hit.

 

The gang were all crushed together in a small room, when three ‘patients’ ran in screaming with fake knives in hand. Lydia was feeling exhilarated, like she could take on anything.

“Hello friends, we’re here to take you on a tour of our beautiful facility, “ the first patient says with a crazed voice while brandishing his knife.

 

“How exciting.” Stiles jokes next to her.

 

“You can all go through the asylum,” the second patient says as he makes his way toward Lydia. He comes nose to nose with her. She lifts her head up at the patient, looking and feeling unafraid. The patient smiles creepily at her.

 

Lydia was too focused on the patient in her face, she didn’t notice the other come at her from behind.

 

“You just can’t all go together,” the other patient says in her ear from behind. The two patients grab Lydia and drag her through a door. It isn’t until they throw her onto the ground that she realizes they grabbed Stiles too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had a much longer chapter written, but got passed two thousand words when I figured I'd just split it into two. Hope you like this one! Comments and kudos motivate me to write, so please do both. xoxo


	11. Not Seeking Asylum

Stiles fights the urge to punch the asylum 'patient' in the face as he throws Stiles to the ground in the other room.

_That damn waiver is saving your ass right now._

He thinks as he glares at the patient standing above him. But the patient isn’t looking at him at all, but at the space next to him. He feels a jolt of electric as a shoulder brushes his own, a streak of red hair falling lightly over onto his clavicle.

_Lydia._

Before he gets the chance to acknowledge her presence, the asylum patients get in Stiles and Lydia's faces and begin screaming for them to get up, which Stiles does promptly. He reaches out for Lydia when she clumsily rolls her left ankle on her little black booties while trying to quickly get up.

“Start moving, my friends!” one of the patients screams creepily as Lydia tries to catch her bearings.

“Are you okay?” Stiles asks to Lydia as she winces.

“Let’s go!” the patient says.

“I’m fine.” Lydia says. She tries to start moving but doesn’t make it very far when she begins to limp. Stiles comes up behind her and takes her arm around his shoulder, taking her weight on her left side. He has to make a conscious effort to crouch down to the much smaller girl. Lydia looks up at him a little shocked by his help.

“Here, put your weight on me.” Stiles says and Lydia smiles gratefully at him. Stiles is close enough to her to smell the coconut scent of Lydia’s strawberry blond hair. The smell intoxicates him and he smiles back, completely lost in the moment.

“MOVE!” the patients shriek right behind the two and Lydia shrieks in surprise, clearly lost in the moment too.

“Alright, we’re going.” Stiles says and the two start moving together through the fake hospital.

As much as Stiles hated to admit it, his heart was beating fast. He wasn’t scared per say, just a bit triggered if he was being honest.

_I hate this._

He thought as they had approached the last leg of the haunted excursion five minutes ago. He thought he’d be okay with his big group of friends, but now that it’s just him and Lydia, his nervousness was getting to him. He desperately didn’t want to show any fear around the girl, feeling as if he had something to prove, but the familiarity of the situation was getting to him.

_You’re okay. You can do this._

Stiles thought as him and Lydia entered a medical room in the haunted asylum. He hadn’t said a word to her since they started through the asylum on their own. He didn’t trust his voice to hide his nervousness. Even when Lydia tried to interact with him, he merely shook his head or just outright ignored her.

But his stomach dropped as his eyes fell onto the dark haired woman strapped to a hospital bed. Stiles froze in place . He could feel Lydia looking at him, but his mind was in a frenzy. He was trying desperately to mentally separate his reality and this fiction.

“Please help me, children, they’re after me.” The patient said. Stiles immediately began to shake.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lydia knew things could get awkward between her and Stiles sometimes, but this was outright uncomfortable. The entire time they had been in the asylum, he was completely ignoring her. She didn’t know what she did to get the cold shoulder, but she was just hoping they would get out of the asylum soon so she could escape the awkwardness. It didn’t help that Stile’s arm around her waist to hold her up was proving to be quite distracting to her. She couldn’t explain why Stiles had this effect on her physically, but she wanted desperately for his hand to slip lower as they walked together in silence.

_Why is he being so weird?_

She thought. Yeah, she rolled her ankle and he was essentially holding her the entire weight as they walked through the haunted asylum, and she sure it was quite annoying for him to have to do, but he had offered.

At her wits end, she turned to say something to him as they entered a new room. She opened her mouth, but stopped herself when she noticed just how pale and bothered he had seemed.

“Please help me, children, they’re after me.”

Lydia heard the lady say, but she was focused more on Stiles and his reaction. She felt his hand that was around her waist begin to shake and she instinctively grabbed it with her free hand.

“Stiles?” Lydia asked tentatively.

She followed his gaze to the woman strapped to the hospital bed. He was completely transfixed on her and Lydia couldn’t quite figure out why.

“Children, please. The doctors, they’re after me. I need you to help me, please help me!” The woman cried.

Stiles’s eyes widened in terror.

“Come on Stiles, let’s go.” Lydia urged him, not fully understanding his reaction, but knowing full well he needed to get out of this room.

Stiles didn’t budge.

The lady continued screaming and Stiles seemed completely engrossed.

“Stiles? Stiles, come on. Let’s get out of here.” Lydia tried nudging him forward, but he wouldn’t budge.

Lydia untangled herself from Stiles and violently dragged him out of the room, which just so happened to be the exit of the asylum. Lydia turned happily to Stiles.

“Hey! We made it out, it’s ov…Stiles?”

Stiles had started to breath heavily. He was clutching nervously at his chest and looked like he was in serious pain. He kept looking around manically, looking for a private place but he couldn’t seem to move.

_He’s having a panic attack._

Lydia realized. She quickly dragged him behind a food stand and sat him down. He followed without question.

“Stiles! You need to breathe. Like right now.” Lydia instructs.

Stiles heaves over.

“I’m…..trying.” He manages to choke out.

“You need to hold your breath. Count to ten. You can do it, count with me.” Lydia instructs as she holds his head between her hands. Stiles tries, but isn’t able to get it together. So she makes a decision.

She gets behind Stiles and sits, wrapping her legs around his back. She grabs his hands from behind and bear hugs him.

“Feel my breathing. Breathe with me, Stiles.”

Stiles clutches her hands like a lifeline and she slowly feels him begin to calm himself.

“You’re okay, Stiles. You’re okay.” She instructs as he starts to relax into her.

Once he settles, she begrudgingly untangles herself from their embrace. She sits in front of him while he keeps his head down, looking at the ground.

“Lydia..”  
“Stiles.”

They both say at the same time.

“I feel like I should explain.” Stiles starts, she grabs his hand quickly.

“You don’t have to.” She says sincerely and he finally looks into her eyes.

“But I want to.” He says looking more vulnerable than she ever thought she’d see him.

“My mom died when I was really young.” He says looking away. Lydia’s heart broke for him.

“She had Frontotemporal dementia. It’s a disorder that…”

“..primarily affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, the areas generally associated with personality, behavior and language.” Lydia finishes.

“Yeah, exactly.” Stiles says.

“When she was at her worst, she thought everyone was out to get her, the doctors, the nurses….even me.” Stiles starts and it finally falls into place for Lydia.

“The woman in the asylum.” She says. “Oh Stiles, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m normally okay, you know it happened a long time ago. That was just…a bit intense for me.” He says.

“I totally get it.” She says as she rubs his hand encouragingly.

“Anyways, I’d love it if you maybe didn’t tell the rest of the pack about this. It’s not my finest moment…”

“Stiles.” She stops him.

“I’d never.” She tells him and he looks her deep in the eyes.

“Thank you… for all of it.” He says.

“Of course.” She tells him. The intensity of their stare was pulling the two together like magnets. Lydia gasped when he started leaning in and she slowly closed her eyes as he got closer.

“There you guys are!”

Lydia’s eyes rip open violently as she turns to Isaac Lahey peering his head around the food stand. Stiles rips his hand out of Lydias right before the rest of their friends start pouring around the corner, looking at them suspiciously, especially Malia.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you! What are you guys doing?” Allison asks when she realizes their close proximity.

“Yeah. What ARE you guys doing.” Malia reiterates.

Lydia flops for words, but none come out.

“Lydia hurt her ankle!” Stiles blurts out.

“In the asylum, she rolled her ankle and I was checking it out.” Stiles says confidently.

Scott rushes to her side.

“Oh, Lydia! Let me have a look.” Scott was studying to be a veterinarian, but he knew a lot about injuries. Stiles got up from his spot and let Scott take over the spot to help Lydia out.

“It’s definitely sprained.” He says after some inspection.

“We should probably grab some ice and go. Lydia needs to elevate this.” Scott says as he helps her up.

The pack agrees and they all start to filter out.

“How was the asylum for you guys? Was it scary?” Kira asks.

Stiles shifts uncomfortably as they walk, his arm intertwined with Malia’s now. Lydia jumps in.

“Not at all. Stiles and I breezed through it like it was nothing.” Lydia said.

Stiles looks at her gratefully and she nods to him.

Lydia finally felt like she was building trust with Stiles, a trust she wasn’t even aware she was seeking. Somehow, Stiles Stilinski was reeling her in. She wasn’t sure it was going to end well for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I've been gone this long. I'm hoping to update regularly again. I had been goign through some things, but I'm good now. Hope you don't hate me and I hope you guys still are interested in the story. I know this chapter is shit, but I really wanted to get it out there. 
> 
> Comments and criticisms are encouraged xoxo


	12. Delicate

Lydia wakes up the next morning to the noise of faint shouting coming from the living room. She slowly rises to a sitting position on the bed, craning her neck closer to her door to listen to the shouting, trying to place voices. She hears the slightly high pitched and irritated voice of Allison, the furtive and final voice of Kira and the incredulous and deep voice of….

 

_Stiles._

Lydia suddenly remembers their encounter from two nights before.

 

How they clung to each other in the maze, how Stiles fell to the floor in panic, how he opened up to her,

 

_how we almost kissed…_

Lydia feels her cheeks burn up slightly at the memory from a mix of excitement, regret, and embarrassment.

 

Excitement because she almost kissed Stiles, the first guy she’s felt a physical connection with since Jackson. She thought she’d never feel that way again about a guy. She thought Jackson ruined her, but Stiles had proved her wrong.

 

Regret because he’s happily dating Malia. She may not be very close with Malia, but even if she didn’t know the girl, Lydia would never want to hook up with someone who is taken.

 

And embarrassment because after their intimate moment, Stiles avoided Lydia at all costs on the car ride home and hasn’t reached out to her about it at all.

 

_Did I ruin our friendship?_

Before Lydia analyzes the situation for the millionth time, she hears a loud ‘No!’ come from her apartment, snapping her back to the situation at hand.

 

Lydia can’t quite make out what they’re saying out there. Lydia ponders whether to get out of bed and see what all of the fuss is about or let the three duke it out themselves and get the tea later.

 

With a sigh, Lydia gets up after letting her curiosity get the best of her. Before leaving her room, she checks her appearance in her full-length mirror.

 

Baggy, off-white Ravenclaw sweatpants hang loose from her hips and a plain blue matching tank top hugs her tiny frame. She runs her hand through her long and untamed strawberry blonde hair, while denying in her brain that she’s making herself relatively presentable because Stiles is here. She quickly brushes her teeth and uses the bathroom, then takes a deep breath and walks out of her room.

 

As she walks through the hallway and towards the living room and the shouts get more discernable.

 

“She just wants to go to the mall! She doesn’t have anyone to go with but me, it’s upsetting for her.” Stiles bellows.

 

“She put herself in that position, Stiles!’ Allison counters.

 

“We didn’t do anything to her, Stiles. She did it to herself.” Kira says.

 

“It happened at the end of last year, can’t you guys move on?” Stiles says as Lydia enters the room.

 

“It happened at the end of last year and she still hasn’t apologized.” Kira says.

 

“She wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t true…” Stiles begins, but Allison cuts him off.

 

“We are NOT getting into this again. We aren’t hanging out with her without the group, end of story.”

 

Allison moves to enter the kitchen, where Lydia is standing. She looks at Lydia slightly surprised.

 

“Good morning, Lydia.” Allison greets evenly.

 

Stiles and Kira straighten up as they spot her. Stiles’s face is still a bit red from getting angry and Lydia can’t help but smirk at how cute he looks when he’s worked up.

 

“Morning guys.” Lydia says cautiously. She doesn’t want to ask what’s going on, but the tension is still in the air.

 

Lydia moves to the keurig to make herself some coffee.

 

“Anybody want coffee?” Lydia offers.

 

“Actually Allison and I were going to see if you wanted to go grab some from Bippity Boppity Brew this morning?” Kira asks Lydia sweetly.

 

“Yeah because it’s not like you’ll go to the mall for coffee with Malia.” Stiles says under his breath.

 

Kira and Allison’s heads turn toward Stiles so fast, Lydia swears they got whiplash.

 

“Stiles!” Allison yells.

 

“What’s going on?” Lydia finally asks.

 

“Oh nothing. Malia just cried to me last night about how she just wants to go to the mall, the mall, that’s it! With a girlfriend. But she doesn’t have any, and she’s really down about it and I was just hoping that Allison or Kira would suck it up for a few hours to just go to the mall with her today, but they’re being stubborn.” Stiles informs Lydia.

 

“Stubborn?” Allison questions lowly, seemingly about to explode.

 

“She tried to ruin our entire friend group!”Kira yells.

“She was sneaky and manipulative and..”

 

As Kira, Allison and Stiles restart their argument, Lydia just stands and watches. She didn’t want them to fight and didn’t want to get involved herself.

 

Lydia didn’t even really know the specifics of why the friend group had such a big problem with Malia. Whenever they brought up “the incident,” everyone just spoke vaguely and didn’t go into much detail about it.

 

Lydia hadn’t spent much, if any, time with Malia alone, but she didn’t have a huge problem with her or anything. Malia could be annoying, that’s for sure. But it seemed to come from a place of insecurity. In truth, even though Lydia didn’t like to admit it, Malia kind of reminded Lydia of herself. Her old self, that is. The Lydia who was rude to assert power. The Lydia who just wanted attention. The Lydia before she found out who Jackson really was.

 

Honestly, Lydia thought Malia was pretty hilarious. Malia was quite aloof, but never claimed to be anything other than that. Malia had the ability to laugh at herself and had a sharp humor to her, one that Lydia appreciated.

 

Amid the heated exchange between Stiles, Allison and Kira, Lydia made a decision.

 

“I’ll go with her.” Lydia says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I updated! It's short and a filler, but it's setting up some future drama. 
> 
> So sorry about being terrible. I just can't promise I'll update consistently, it's hard to remain motivated after teen wolf ended, especially with this story being so AU. But I hope you enjoy this chapter and hope to get you another one in this century. 
> 
> comments and suggestions encouraged xoxo


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